


A talk between brothers

by Fairylia



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Bullying, Damian Wayne - Freeform, Dick Grayson - Freeform, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 15:37:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6382348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairylia/pseuds/Fairylia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian comes to his big brother for help with a problem that he's not sure how to handle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A talk between brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Small mention of birdflash and I'm not sure if I like this or not.

Dick tried to keep his calm, it wouldn’t do anyone any good if he were to blow up, maim a minor, and end up in prison. It was normally easy for him to keep his anger in check, Bruce had been sure to instill that discipline in him from a young age because problems handled in anger only turned into bigger problems, but this was the one thing that he always had trouble just letting go. Fuck with him, whatever no big deal, but fuck with any of his siblings and you better prepare for every ounce of the wrath of someone much scarier than God to pour down on your pathetic ass. No matter what happened between them, each of Bruce’s children (adoptive or otherwise) were fiercely protective of one another. This was especially true of Dick when it came to the baby bird. It had taken a long time for Damian to become comfortable being a part of such a large family but once he had, (kind of), he found an automatic connection with Dick which secretly made his big brother feel more accomplished than anything else he’d done in his life but when he moved out they drifted apart slightly and it became more rare for the young boy to come to him for advice.  
So when his little brother came to him with bruises on his body because of some punks at school, Dick didn’t take too kindly to it. He knew that Damian could’ve murdered each and every one of them but he also knew that Bruce would’ve been angry if he had fought back at all, preferring to leave the violence and retaliation for the actual bad guys, although after five years Damian had a much better handle on his temper than when he had first joined their family. A part of him was so proud that his brother was putting in an effort to control himself and not just jumping head first into fights but it also pained him to know that he was getting hurt and there was nothing that Dick could really do to put an end to it.  
“Grayson, wipe that constipated look off of your face, they look more painful than they actually are.” Some things, like Damian’s attitude towards people trying to protect him, would never change and between his training from the league and being a part of their family he had learned to play off any pain he felt as miniscule so that no one would say anything (especially after Jason kept yelling YEAH BUT DID YOU DIE every time someone said too much about an injury… they were still working on that one.) In this instance Dick just wanted to know that his brother was okay and he wanted to beat the shit out of the kids who had done this but he knew the latter would create more problems than it would solve. “I didn’t come to you because some idiot thought that their weak punches could actually injure me, I came to you to ask a much more personal and important question…”  
It was so rare for Damian to open up to anyone so Dick always did his best to make sure that he kept an open mind and really listened to what the boy had to say, especially with puberty making him more likely to blow up if someone close to him said the wrong thing. “You can always come to me, what’s up?” They both sat there for what felt like ages, Dick didn’t want to rush Damian but the silence was starting to worry him. “What’s going on in that brain of yours baby bird?” Damian grimaced at the nickname but he wasn’t fooling anyone because it was no secret that he cherished their bond and everything that came with it just as much as Dick did, if not more. He looked up to him and cared what he thought, which is probably why he looked like he was going into war.  
“When you were in school did people ever bully you because of your parentage? Because of the stereotypes about what it meant to be Romani?” the question caught him off guard but it also made everything a little clearer. Damian had chosen to go to him, not because of an issue with being treated like a child, but because he knew that Dick had been in his shoes and would understand the pain that comes with being treated like you’re lesser than others because of your heritage. “I had to do a project on where my family comes from and maybe I should’ve just lied but I didn’t want to. So I fudged some details but other than the whole league of assassin’s thing I tried to be honest. They took one look and called me a terrorist and I know that father doesn’t want me to fight back but just once I’d like to shove my foot so far up their asses!”  
“Dami, I’m so sorry that people are still so closed minded but you are so much stronger than they are, and you’re a lot stronger than I was at your age. It took me years to stop knocking out anyone who called me a circus freak or blamed me for their missing things or insulted my parents. It made my blood boil and when it started I was in the loneliest period of my life…” Dick thought back to what had pulled him out of the darkness and wiped away so much of his insecurity (not all of it… but more than he had ever thought possible.)  
Damian’s eyebrows scrunched and Dick almost laughed at how much the boy resembled his father in that moment. “Why are you smiling at me like that? Forget it, I don’t even want to know. Just tell me how you made it through this without getting arrested for murder because I’ve been working on my patience with Pennyworth but I haven’t mastered it and I don’t want to disappoint father.”  
“First of all, there is no way that you could ever disappoint Bruce. He loves you and he knows that you’re doing everything that you can to be the best version of yourself that you can be and that’s all any of us can ask of you Baby bird. That being said however, you wanted to know how I handled the issue and I’ve never lied to you so I’ll be really honest in saying that I didn’t. I let it eat me alive and make me angry and bitter for a long time and I was miserable but I had someone that pulled me out of the darkness and reminded me that those people didn’t know me at all…” Bright red hair and shining green eyes flashed into Dick’s mind but he knew that now wasn’t the best time to get distracted “You’re so much stronger than I was then Damian, and you have our entire family to remind you that you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are more than what they see in their small minds, your heritage makes you something different and people fear what they can’t understand… or what they won’t take the time to get to know.”  
“I know that I’m not always the easiest person to get along with but I just want to thank you… thank you for being my brother even when I gave you every single reason not to be. I… love you.” Dick had to look away for a minute because if Damian saw the tears in his eyes he’d never let it go, once he took a deep breath he wrapped his arms around his brother and felt his body stiffen before he relaxed and hugged back. “If you ever mention this to anyone I will deny it and make you pay in some way.” Dick couldn’t help but laugh, some things really don’t ever change.


End file.
